What Are Your Thoughts on the Legalization of Marijuana?

I'm glad you asked that question, because I've got thoughts on it. And I wouldn't have any thoughts on it—I mean I'd probably have different thoughts on it—if I hadn't had a lunch with a dad.

I know this dad really well, and he has a son who had an injury. And he found, after years of therapy, that the slightest incremental dosage of marijuana that had nothing to do with getting high gave him relief. And it was the only thing that gave him relief in the injured part of his body.

This guy was as far from an addict, or wanting to be an addict, or wanting to be high on marijuana as imaginable. So that lunch really opened me to the possible medicinal functions of this.

The person may be asking a different question than I'm answering right now. I'm trying to think of a way to make it possible for there to be medicinal usages, like a prescription of marijuana, knowing that it, of course, can be abused like most other over the counter drugs can be abused.

So I think I probably would move in that direction. I would like for those who could get real relief from careful usage of this God-created thing to have access to it.

If you're asking the question, What about the legalization of marijuana period, so that tons of it can go anywhere anytime, and as many 13-year-olds can have it as much as they want so that they can get strung out on the drug, then I would say, "We don't do that with alcohol! We don't let 16-year-olds go into a bar and get whatever they want." I would guess that, as a society, we would see that we love our children and we want to be careful.

I don't know exactly the extent of those restraints, but in principle a society would probably want to put restraints on a drug that could not only addict people terribly but also damage them in their minds long term.

I hope that is a balanced answer.

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books.

Share the Joy! You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in physical form, in its entirety or in unaltered excerpts, as long as you do not charge a fee. For posting online, please use only unaltered excerpts (not the content in its entirety) and provide a hyperlink to this page. For videos, please embed from the original source. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Desiring God.